


Nothing Good Gets Away

by reginahalliwell



Series: Some Kind of Goodbye [3]
Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fix-It, Morning After, Post-Episode: s04e14 The Incredible Sinking Lorelais
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-31 08:08:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8570935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reginahalliwell/pseuds/reginahalliwell
Summary: After their reunion (set in The Incredible Sinking Lorelais), Rory stays the night. The morning after, Rory and Jess forge ahead after lots of apologies and awkwardness.Third one-shot in my Some Kind of Goodbye series, set in an alternate late season 4.





	

**Author's Note:**

> "If it is right, it happens--the main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away." -John Steinbeck

Rory woke up in an unfamiliar bed, blinking the sleep out of her eyes as she took in her surroundings. She had a tee shirt on, her bra slung over a chair in the corner of the room. Her underwear from yesterday was still on, but she had divested herself of Jess’s sweatpants at some point during the night. 

Jess.

She startled as she sleepily came to the realization that she was not alone in the bed—Jess, her ex?boyfriend Jess, had slept in the same bed as her last night. At his apartment. In New Haven. Oh god, Yale. The reason for her flight from campus came back to her all at once, and she had a moment of panic. 

Rory must have shifted abruptly in her distress, because the lump of angsty teenager beside her stirred and turned to face her. 

“Hey,” he said, greeting her with a bleary look and furrowed brow, like he was taking everything in as well.

“Hi,” she returned, suddenly self-conscious that she was in bed with a boy, with no pants and no bra on. She was covered enough, not to mention the coverlet that still hid her and warmed her, but the principle held. She was going to have to talk to Lane about this later. And her mom! Oh, god, her mom. 

“I see that look,” Jess said. “Right about now, you’re either embarrassed, or regretting last night, or confused and scared. I know at least one of those applies to me too, if it’s any consolation.”

“Which one?” Rory asked, momentarily forgetting her own insecurity. 

Jess shifted uncomfortably and the covers inadvertently tented a bit where he moved. Rory immediately understood and blushed, looking away, as he cleared his throat and admitted quietly, “Well it’s clearly not regret, that’s for sure.”

Feeling brave suddenly, Rory reached to embrace him, unconcerned that she could feel his hardness through their clothing as she clung to him. He was wearing boxer shorts and a thin tee shirt, and while she couldn’t see his legs under the covers she could feel his hairy, spindly limbs twining with hers. She held him close, kissing the side of his neck with no amorous ambitions, just savoring the intimacy of the act. He could feel her breasts pressing against his chest, unsupported by a bra, but neither of them commented on how much more they were seeing and feeling of each other than they ever had. 

Waking up next to Jess was much more pleasant than Rory had thought it might be. She had always wondered whether sleeping with a boy—really sleeping, that is—would be embarrassing for her. Would she snore? drool? god forbid, something worse? That accidental night with Dean where they had fallen asleep at Miss Patty’s, they had both been so exhausted that she didn’t have the time to be concerned about such things. Last night, with Jess, they had both had a few beers, and the emotional upheaval and general stress of her life the past week or so had made her equally exhausted. She imagined if they woke up in bed and this was his reaction, she must not have done anything too embarrassing. 

Smiling as she appreciated their newfound intimacy, Rory pulled back to kiss him properly. “Tell me something I don’t know about you,” she asked him, hoping to continue their honest communication and move forward together. 

“What kind of something?” he asked, unsure of the right course to take. She just tilted her head as if to tell him she didn’t care, she just wanted him to talk to her. He had missed that look in her eyes; he felt so much regret for the way things ended between them, and even some of the middle parts too. 

“Okay,” he agreed, kissing her swiftly as he pressed firmly against her, “but only if you do the same.”

She nodded, and he looked around the room in thought for a few long moments. 

“I’m writing a novel,” he said finally. 

Her eyes widened in amazement, shocked and at the same time not at all. Pleased. Proud.

“Jess, that’s so… that’s incredible.”

He shook his head, trying to downplay the whole thing now that he had brought it up. “It’s slow going, but I think it might actually be worth finishing.”

“You have to! And I want to read it, all of it, and I’m sure it’s amazing, and you’re going to get published and be a novelist, a real novelist, and—” He kissed her, grasping his hand gently on her neck as he did so, diverting her attention. 

Rory groaned as she was distracted in the best way. Jess let the kiss go on a few more seconds, relishing the feel of their bodies stirring against one another. “Your turn,” he broke off, pulling away slightly to put one arm around her shoulders, her head resting against his chest, while his other hand casually traced the seam of the tee shirt she had borrowed.

“No fair,” she protested, their eyes meeting as her pupils widened with arousal. “How am I supposed to think of anything to tell you when you’re doing that?”

“Doing what?” he asked innocently, his eyes twinkling.

Rory harrumphed and tried to focus. “I can’t think of anything except things I can’t say out loud.” 

He laughed, a deep laugh that shook her in bed. “I bet I can guess some of that.”

Rory continued blushing, but was glad to know that she very clearly wasn’t alone in having the thoughts she was having. She cleared her throat and put a lock of hair behind her ear nervously. “Do you mind if I take a shower?” she asked. It wasn’t that she wanted to leave this paradise that was being in bed with Jess, but she felt gross and exhausted and a hot shower always made her feel better. 

“No problem,” he said, seemingly all business though she could practically hear him thinking about her being naked in his shower with just a wall between them.

She nodded and kissed him softly, then extricated herself gently and hesitantly climbed out of the bed. She could feel the wetness in her underwear but hoped it wasn’t visible; he didn’t have the same luck—she could still see the clear outline of his erection even with him not quite fully on his back. Her shirt (his shirt) did nothing to hide the small curves of her breasts, and she felt self-conscious with the cool air hitting her backside and her bare thighs while he looked at her. She gestured to him with her head, asking, “Will you be okay?”

He laughed unashamedly and looked her right in the eyes as he said, “It’s hardly the first time I’ve gotten turned on by you, Rory. I’m way better than okay.”

“But I mean, do you need—” She started but wasn’t sure what she was even offering. She didn’t feel like she could exactly help him with his issue, or at least she wasn’t going to be the one to initiate that. 

He smiled generously and confirmed, “I’ll be ship-shape by the time you get back, I promise. Go, enjoy your shower.” There was a twinkle in his eye as he spoke, but he was sincere.

She nodded, realizing that he hadn’t exactly said whether he was going to take care of it himself or see that it went away, and the thought distracted Rory enough that she turned away to enter the restroom, not even realizing she was giving Jess a good show as she did so. She closed the door almost the whole way and immediately turned the hot water on, the sound of the spray giving them both the privacy they desperately needed.

She took her time in the shower, wanting to use it as a way to cleanse all the negative emotions she started the day with yesterday and think only about the present and this possible future that somehow—Rory still couldn’t believe it—included Jess. 

What she wasn’t so excited about was calling her mother; they had both been missing each other all day, but Rory couldn’t be upset about that, because not being able to get in touch with Lorelai had accidentally led to her finding Jess again, to them having a wonderful night and morning together, and she couldn’t be upset about that, even if the events that transpired yesterday to bring her to that point didn’t inspire confidence. 

Never had she understood Jess more than right now. He hadn’t wanted to disappoint her; he hadn’t wanted to reveal himself to be the failure he believed himself—wrongly—to be; he hadn’t wanted to shatter any hopes of making her proud, of doing what she wanted, being what she wanted.

But Rory hadn’t been the perfect girlfriend either, and those were all bygones. Now, though, she felt the exact same way. She couldn’t tell her grandma and grandpa—the reasons that she was at Yale in the first place, the legacy she was supposed to be upholding—that she wasn’t cutting it. She wasn’t even mediocre; she was failing! She couldn’t bear to see the looks on their faces, to know that she had let them down, that they had fewer reasons to be proud of her, that they had wasted their money on tuition she didn’t deserve. 

And her mom, who had worked so hard and sacrificed things for herself so that Rory could excel, and go to an Ivy League school, and even just be fed and clothed—she couldn’t bear to let her mom down either, even though if there was anyone in the world who would love her regardless, it would be Lorelai. 

But Jess understood what it was like to be put on a pedestal, to be patronized and expected to do certain things and be certain things. Not in the same ways, of course, but he was intimately aware of what it was like to have another person put their faith and hope and love in you and to let them down. So many people had done it to him, he had done it to Luke and to her, and now she had done it too. 

They were better suited for each other than ever, she thought, and not because she wasn’t perfect Rory anymore, but because she understood now that she didn’t have to be. 

The water gradually started to cool and Rory rinsed one last time, shutting it off as she realized how long she had spent in there. What if Jess had to go to the bathroom?! Ugh, now she could add bathroom hog to her quickly growing list of faults. 

Pulling a spare towel around her, Rory stumbled out into the bedroom, finding Jess fully dressed and laying back on the bed reading a book, unsurprisingly. He drew his eyes away from the pages to look at her, doing a double take when he processed her state of wet undress. “Did you get all your thinking done, then?” he asked, knowing her too well. “I would ask if you wrote the great American novel while you were in there, but then I figured the hypocrisy would be too obvious.”

“I got to think, yes, thank you. Sorry I took so long; I kind of lost track of time.”

“And?” he asked, one eyebrow raised in questioning. 

“And, I am really sorry for asking too much of you, for making you think you had to be some perfect guy to be worthy of me. I’m not perfect; no one is, and I shouldn’t have made you feel like you were anything less than an amazing guy. I know you compared yourself to Dean—everyone did, even me, and that wasn’t fair. And just because I have ideas about what my life should be like didn’t mean I was right to impose them on you. I think I finally get what all the teen angst last year was about. I’m kind of angsty myself right now,” she admitted, but there was a smile behind her eyes.

He shook his head and got up, haphazardly placing the book closed down on the bed. She was sure that he had read it enough times to remember his place, if he didn’t have parts of it memorized. That man of hers had a knack for quoting literature at the drop of a hat. He really did read more than anyone else she knew, and it was sad that nobody else appreciated that. 

He approached her, wrapping one arm around her towel clad torso, and she readjusted her grip on the folded terrycloth covering her front, placing her other hand on his shoulder. “Rory,” he said, as serious as she had ever seen him. When she met his eyes, he continued. “I think we’ve both done enough apologizing.”

She nodded, smiling in acceptance. 

“Er, I guess I have one more,” he admitted sheepishly, almost not sorry for saying it.

“What?” she asked in alarm, seeing the look on his face. 

“I…might have accidentally answered your phone while you were in the shower,” he said, looking up at the ceiling. 

“Oh my god,” she said, “you didn’t.”

“I really did. Your mom was not too happy to hear me answer the phone…”

“Jess!” she nearly screamed, turning away to make a sound of exasperation. “Well, if you weren’t sorry already, you will be soon.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” uncertainty crossing his face, though he knew where she was going with this. 

“You’re going to have to come to Stars Hollow with me; my mother’s never going to let me hear the end of this, you answering my cell phone first thing in the morning when I’m supposed to be with Paris in my dorm room at Yale. I’m not going to deal with this alone, buddy. Get ready for Hurricane Lorelai.”

He groaned, knowing that this was bound to happen sooner or later, though he had hoped it would be much later, and definitely not under these particular circumstances. But a second chance with Rory? Worth it.


End file.
